She opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
He put his phone in his pocket and turned to Guiying.
His hand came up to Guiying's face, careful, tilting his jaw slightly to look at the cheek.
His thumb hovered a fraction from the skin without touching it close enough that Guiying could feel the warmth of it.
"Are you hurt anywhere else?" he said quietly.
Just for Guiying.
Guiying met his eyes.
"No," he said.
Liuxian held his gaze for a moment longer than necessary.
Then he lowered his hand, turned back, and waited with the composed patience of a man who had already decided exactly how this was going to end.
The head of the police department arrived first.
He came with four officers and the particular unhurried energy of someone who'd received a call that rearranged his afternoon and hadn't minded at all. He was a broad man, silver at his temples, and he scanned the concourse once before his eyes found Liuxian and his entire bearing shifted into something warm and easy.
